Canderous Ordo

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Canderous was born to the Clan Ordo on the Mandalorian planetOrdo, as early as to undergo his verd'goten, the warriors' initiation, in the middle of the greatest breakthrough in Mandalorian technology, when the Basilisk war droids were still being perfected. In those days, young warriors would prove themselves in real combat with unknown opponents on a number of worlds. The ones Canderous fought on were most likely among the locations of the late Krath Holy Crusade, near the close of the Great Sith War.

He would always remember his first battle, an 80 kilometer plunge through the atmosphere, dodging self-guided projectile and beam weapons, with barely fifteen centimeters of glowing-hot armor plate protecting him. During that battle, he gained considerable honor for his achievements, and became part of the most promising young warriors of his clan. Following the defeat of the Mandalorian Crusaders in 3,996 BBY, he was quickly recruited by Mandalore the Ultimate into the Neo-Crusaders.

Before the Mandalorian Wars started, Canderous witnessed what may have been the first Yuuzhan Vong scouting of the galaxy. His party was going through the asteroid belts of the Crispin system, to hunt the pirates and smugglers that used the frozen methane gas shells of the main belt for cover. Canderous targeted a small asteroid with a thermal generator to cause the outer layer of frozen gas to explode and destroy the hidden ships, but then the asteroid started rotating spraying thermal projectiles that melted armor like wax, and mysteriously fled before the Mandalorians could counter-attack. They tracked the vehicle rimward through hyperspace until they lost its trail near the galactic rim. The vessel could well have been of Vagaari origin though, as Canderous' recollection was vague.

By the time of the Mandalorian Wars, Canderous had attained the rank of commander, and was one of the few high-ranking Mandalorians to survive the Battle of Malachor V, along with Cassus Fett, the second in command of Mandalore the Ultimate. For thirteen years, before they would invade the Republic in 3,963 BBY, the Mandalorians stockpiled resources from the worlds they conquered just outside Republic jurisdiction. Of the many such battles, it is known Canderous took part to the First Battle of Althir, in which he defeated an Althiri fleet ten times the size of his own and earned the command of an entire subsect of his clan.

His task was to assault one of their flanks with a false attack so they would be drawn out, allowing the bulk of his forces to attack from the rear and defeat them. However, when the Althiri let their fleet split in two leaving the center exposed, Canderous turned his forces and got to the enemy commander, ending the battle quicker than they would have otherwise, and avoiding further losses. Regrettably, in abandoning his position, he let many of his men die. The sole survivor of that stand, Jagi, believed Canderous to be a glory hunter, and was determined to have his revenge. He would spend years tracking him down before he had the chance of a face-off with Canderous.

Though he didn't enjoy wiping out worlds for its own sake, it was Canderous' belief that the tactics the Republic used when the Mandalorians finally did enter their territory, like setting their bases inside major cities, left Mandalore little choice but to raze whole worlds such as Serroco in provocation. Despite the fact that when Revan joined the war things began to turn against his people, Canderous was increasingly satisfied with the challenge the Republic put up. Costly sacrifices, counterattacks and mass deceptions made Revan something of a hero in his eyes, and though he did regret the Galaxy was taken from their grasp, he recognized the honor in fighting the only one who stood against them, once the Sith had retreated into the Unknown Regions. The Sith he would figure years later to have been behind the very choice of challenging the Republic.

In the close of the conflict, Canderous was among the two fleets that filled the space around Malachor V, where the Mandalorians had committed all of their forces in a last attempt at defeating the Republic. Their doom was sealed, and when the Jedi Exile, the General that commanded the Republic fleet, activated the mass shadow generator, most of the remaining ships were crushed onto the surface of the planet by its gravity well. Those outside the scope of the superweapon were able to escape the mass shadows and survive the battle. In 3,960 BBY the Mandalorians surrendered unconditionally, Mandalore was executed by Revan while the others were stripped of their weapons and armor, and sent into exile on the Outer Rim. With nothing to call his own but the honor of having fought in the battle he just lost, Canderous became a mercenary. He eventually ended up on Taris, enforcing for local Exchange boss Davik Kang, but the best challenges that Taris had to offer were nothing to him.

After the end of the Mandalorian Wars, while Revan took up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith and started his own crusade against the Republic, Canderous became the most famous Mandalorian mercenary in the Taris Sector. By the time of the Attack on the Endar Spire, near the close of the Jedi Civil War, he had been fighting across the Galaxy for forty standard years, and it started not being enough for him. Unhappy with the way his life had turned, when Davik didn't come through with the fortune he had promised to pay Canderous for his services, he decided it was time to move on. When Revan met Canderous in the Lower City of Taris, bearing the made-up identity the Jedi Council have him, that of a soldier under Bastila Shan, Canderous was going to see to a special assignment of Davik's.

He was put in charge of a salvage mission to the Under City, to the crash sites of a couple of escape pods from the RepublicwarshipEndar Spire, the ship where Revan was stationed on before the Sith attack. Revan was headed to the Under City himself with fellow Republic fugitive Carth Onasi, but the Lower City swoop gangs had already sent their own salvage parties. Down the Under City west, Canderous lost some of Davik's men to the rakghouls that roamed the place, and when Revan helped him during an attack, Canderous told him the Black Vulkars were the first to get to Bastila's escape pod. Revan won the Tarisian Season Opener to get ahold of the Jedi commanding officer, who was offered as a prize by the Vulkar's leader Brejik. Impressed by his recklessness on the track, Canderous choose him of all people for a plan to escape Taris, which at the time was under Sith quarantine. He needed Revan to break into the Tarisian Military Base and steal the Sith launch codes, without which any ship leaving the atmosphere would have been disintegrated by the Sith fleet's automated defense guns, so he made a deal with him and provided a droid capable of slicing the encrypted security system that protected entrance to the base, T3-M4.

When Revan got the codes, they took the Ebon Hawk from Davik and escaped the planet just as the Sith commenced an orbital bombardment that destroyed Taris. Canderous then traveled with Revan in his mission against Darth Malak and the Sith Empire, despite disagreeing at times with the courses of action he took in their journeys. Canderous often regaled Revan with tales of his past battles, and would later explain that coming with him was a means of finding battles worthy of his skill, something he could not do under Davik. He also encountered Jagi, who had not forgotten him; he challenged Canderous to a duel in the Dune Sea of Tatooine to answer for his choices in the Battle of Althir. Canderous would not stand the insult and was determined to kill him so that his honor would remain unblemished. Due to his negotiation skills, Revan had Jagi see it Canderous's way, but Canderous was still scarred when Jagi committed suicide to erase the shame to have questioned the teachings of Mandalore.

At one point, the Ebon Hawk was ambushed by AdmiralSaul Karath and tractor beamed by the Sith Interdictor shipLeviathan. Revan was detained with Carth and Bastila apart from the rest of the crew, but arranged for one of the others to stage their rescue; once he was set free, the others followed Canderous' lead to the Ebon Hawk while Revan saw to the deactivation of the tractor beam. Fighting his way to the docking bays, Canderous got his party on board unscathed. He was glad to learn, before they set out to find the last Star Map and got to the Star Forge, that the true identity of his new employer was that of the leader of the Republic forces that, to his honor, had the upper hand against his people four years earlier; yet now he felt even more demeaned as a warrior, seeing with the wisdom that comes with age all the opportunities that had passed him by, and he decided he would do something about it as soon as his time with Revan was done. With Malak's defeat and the triumph of the Republic, Canderous was awarded the Cross of Glory along with Revan and his companions for his part in the struggle against the Sith.

Ever since Mandalore's helmet was seized by Revan, the Mandalorians had been without a leader. Canderous himself, after the Jedi Civil War, did not think the clans as they were could return any time soon. Still, when Revan left for the Unknown Regions, Canderous was left with instructions to unite the clans and prepare for a new war. Besides the whereabouts of the helmet, Revan told him the truth about Mandalore the Ultimate and their Sith allies, that his people had been tricked and that all along the Sith had been behind the choice of challenging the Republic. So Canderous took the helmet for his own and returned to the Mandalorian outpost of Dxun, one of the four moons of Onderon. Only a selected few knew the identity of the new Mandalore, as he never took off his armor and helmet in the presence of others, not even while sleeping, according to rumors. While it was tradition that the leader of the Mandalorians kept his helmet on, Canderous had probably more reasons do to so, like keeping secret his ties to Revan.

When the Jedi Exile was attacked in the First Battle of Onderon by ColonelTobin, the former Jedi General was forced to land on Dxun, an old battle ground of hers. Her Jedi MasterKreia felt, as they assessed the situation, that something was on the moon that the Exile needed to see in order to clear away all of her past that was still unresolved. Suggesting they might come across other means to get to Onderon by exploring their surroundings, she accompanied the Exile through the jungles until they arrived to a Mandalorian Outpost, an old covert camp whose remains had been detected by the pilot of the Ebon HawkAtton Rand as they looked for settlements. Mandalorian sentries met the Exile outside the camp and led her to their leader who wanted to meet her. Canderous agreed to give the Exile a ride to Onderon at the condition she proved she was not going to be a liability in the difficult streets of Onderon. She did better than he thought she would do, and made quite a reputation among his warriors; Canderous moved up his own timetable, having scheduled a trip for supplies the day after, and took her right away then instead.

As soon as he had his shuttle prepped for launch he was confronted by Kreia, who was also Revan's teacher long before, and she asked for his loyalty to the Exile. Canderous was somewhat angered initially by what sounded like lack of respect from an arrogant old woman toward his people, but Kreia expressed her esteem for the loyalty he had shown to Revan and promised to answer why her old apprentice did not take Canderous with him when he left for the unknown regions, at the condition he would keep the one she traveled with safe. Canderous was perplexed that the old woman knew about him and Revan, and he had her watched since. Unfortunately, Sith Assassins attacked the camp, prompting Canderous to launch even sooner, so he left what remained of the enemy to his subordinates and made for Onderon. Arriving in the city of Iziz, he directed the Exile to an acquaintance of his, doctorDhagon Ghent. Though Ghent was being held by local authorities as a suspect for the murder of CaptainSullio, an officer of the Onderon military, they were able to prove his innocence and Ghent arranged for a message to be smuggled in the Iziz Royal Palace to the Jedi MasterKavar, whom the Exile needed to see. Canderous was delighted to know the Jedi who the Mandalorians believed would have led the Republic forces in the Mandalorian Wars, but Tobin interrupted their meeting, forcing the Exile to return to Dxun. Canderous then decided to join the Exile against the Sith, so that the galaxy would not fall under their influence for good and pose a threat to his efforts to reunite the scattered clans of the Mandalorians.

"The one I travel with has walked your same path—and I ask that when the end comes, that you remember that kinship, even if it seems there is nothing else left."

―Kreia to Canderous

Traveling with the Exile, Canderous met other Mandalorian clans on Dantooine and Nar Shaddaa, and had them join his force on Dxun. Esok, the leader of a group of Mandalorian mercenaries stationed on Dantooine was killed in an attempt to usurp the title of Mandalore from Canderous. The bolstering of the Mandalorian ranks did worry the Exile, who lost her connection to the Force years back trying to prevent them from taking over the galaxy, yet she saw the value in supporting a strong military force which could be used against the Sith, the Republic being in the shape its in. Canderous took his force in the Onderon Civil War against GeneralVaklu, a man he respected, so that the planet would not become a staging ground for the Sith. The sight of a Basilisk War Droid raining down onto Onderon once more, shocked royalist and secessionist forces alike; Captain Bostuco, who spoke with Canderous and the Exile before, was relieved however when he saw it was them flying the vehicle, coming to the aid of QueenTalia. By orders of Canderous, high-ranking Mandalorian Xarga led a squadron of warriors to take control of the tomb of Freedon Nadd, whence a detachment of Sith had been dispatched to support Vaklu in Iziz; he followed a strike team of three of the Exile's companions led by the Dxun Force Adept. The expedition was suggested by Kreia, who recognized the Sith activity picked up by Mandalorian hardware on Dxun as a determinant for the conflict in Iziz; though Canderous thought it foolhardy to divide their forces at a time like that, he trusted the Exile's decision. Later on Canderous distinguished himself in the Battle of Telos IV engaging the Sith fleet alongside now RepublicAdmiral Carth Onasi; he boarded the Ravager with his troops and met Darth Nihilus in battle together with the Exile and Visas Marr. He also arranged for several proton bombs to be set on the ship, which was destroyed by Kex and a sorry Colonel Tobin as soon as they were back to the orbital shuttle they used to board the ship. Tobin was swayed to help the Exile when he saw the mistake it was to get involved with one such as Nihilus, so Canderous had Tobin report to his men while he took care of his master. When they were back to Citadel Station, Admiral Onasi spoke privately with the Exile, and Canderous parted ways with the Exile soon afterwards.

Little information has been discovered as to Canderous's fate after his journey with the Exile. According to predictions made by Kreia, Canderous's future would be one still full of battle. In these battles, Revan's reasoning behind his order to Canderous would be explained: in ordering Canderous to reunite the Mandalorians, they would be remembered for thousands of years to come. It has been supposed that without these battles, the Mandalorians would not have been remembered as strong, honorable warriors—and without that memory, there would have been no reason for Jango Fett, and later Boba Fett, to don the Mandalorian armor.